The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-02-12

and Mrs. Purl could only run from
window to window and attempt to re-
assure the frightened children. After
: awhile the cries ceased, and, although
they held their breaths in intense ex.
| pectation of their renewal, the quiet
continued so long that they hoped it
was permanent, and gratefully resumed
their occupations. In the midst of this
lull, greatly to their joy, MI. Purl en-
tered. They all sprang to meet him
and piled him with questions.
Yes, he had heard the cries, but dis
family. 1t was probably some one hal
looing for amusement. Lou was at
home, he had seer her scared ut the
supper-table as he passed his brothers
windows, and, as he was very
hungry, he proposed they should
also gather around the table. A
few minutes a%fterward, in the midst of q
merry peals of laughter from the chill
dren, there came again, that prolonged,
maniacal cry. Mr.. Purl sprang from
his chair and threw open the
door. Cry after cry, wild, weird.
beseeching, now rose on the still
night air. He took down the lantern,
saying:
at is not Lou, but it is a woman's
voice. and / must see to it."
They watched the light of the lantern
as it followed the turning of the road
through the wood (for their land skirted
the forest), glancing at them here and
there like a wakeful, watchful eye. At
last it was lost in the depth of the
wood, but as the screaming continued,
Mrs. rurl still gazcd from the window
as though out of the dense gloom q
revelation might come. The moments
dragged like hours, while her active
imagination conjured up wild pictures of
wandering, suffering women. Atlast the
light again appeared in the distance and
it was 0 evident that it was being
borne toward home at q very rapid
rate. And from the north there was
mingled with the terrific cries the sound
of mems voices hallooing with all their
might, and while this pandemonium
was at its height, MI. Paul entered the
house, laughing heartily.
"Why, Robert calculated his wife,
reproachfully.
Rant and Harry are being sold as
badly as we are" he said. "Iimagine
they will soon tire of signaling a lynx"
"A lynx!'
Yes, it is one of the peculiarities Of
those bowling animals that their cries
so closely resemble the human voice.
An intelligent being would wait be-
tween their cries for areply, but hark'
A prolonged footing was now sand
wiched between the other sounds that
rent the air.
at is Freese with the dinner-horn,
and hark!there is Dams horn, too. Oh,
what Il h%ullabaloo over his lynxship,"
and Mr.. Purl laughed d, heartily enjoy
ing the fun.
But" said Mrs. Purl, a shadow of
her first fear returning, show do you
account for the non-appearance of the
cows? And l am sure that was lib
bie's peculiar step that beat the road
about shutdown"
'No doubt, and Tim was probably
her rider. He nearly always sets out
late, and also, nearly always fails to
find the ows He, doubtless, went
home by the south road, and is now
peacefully smoking his pipe in the soli-
tude of his own ROOM"
The strangely mingled commotion
continued for more than half an hour,
but at last n after another of the sig
~nalers, convinced of the uselessness Of
their efforts, ceased to make them, and,
taking advantage of this partial quiet.
the excited children were put to bed.
The screaming, however, continued,
although the intervals of silence grew
longer and more frequent, and Mr..
Purl and his wife having also retired,
they were during one of those sweet
spaces of silence overcome with sleep.
Far in the night Mrs. Purl was aroused
by the rafting of a horses hoofs, which
she at once recognized rs Tibbic's.
She lay awake n long time, expecting
and fearing u renewal of the cries, but
the night was wrapped in the deep ST.
lencc peculiar to that lonely region.
When Mr.. Purl arose in the morning
their gentle hcifer stood lowing at the
gate. Urged by their over-full udders,
the cows had brought themselves home.
''But that was Tibbie's step that l